It’s a gray day out there today. I had all kinds of plans for this weekend, three big blog posts I wanted to write and have ready to publish over the next few days, a coffee date with a good friend I haven’t seen as much as I’d like to, catching up on my Journal Your Life class, spending extra time with my boys, maybe even some gardening. Instead, I am taking it easy (trying to anyway) because I have a cold, mainly a really sore throat that’s hung around for the past four days. I am grateful that I don’t have a fever or a stuffy nose or much of a cough, but I am tired and achy–and annoyed.

I’m not good at resting or taking care of myself. Maybe you already know that about me? I have stuff to do! And yet, the main reason I’m feeling punky is I wore myself out over these past few weeks (months? years?) with some heavy emotional work and lots of activity but not a whole lot of rest or care. When you won’t do the necessary maintenance, when you don’t balance your effort with ease, your body has no other option but to break down.

In an attempt to take better care of myself, I slept in this morning. I meditated for 20 minutes and wrote for almost an hour. I broke my afternoon coffee date, even though I really, really wanted to go. I fed myself whole food–a berry, orange and spinach smoothie for breakfast, a veggie burger and salad and some sweet potato for lunch. I went on a slow walk with my boys. I played with and pet the dogs, canine therapy. I also did a little “work,” editing some photos, doing some online reading, finding things for my Something Good post on Monday, putting clean sheets on the bed, and doing laundry, but I did it slowly, gently, and with great care. I still feel poorly, but also cared for, and that is a definite improvement.